Mafia Wiki:Writing and Editing Guide
This guide outlines a standard of clean, consistent formatting for articles on this wiki. The information described here is a guideline and can be overridden where circumstances warrant it so it will never be unerringly perfect for every situation. However, please try your best to keep to the advice outlined here so others may use your edits as an example when creating and editing their own articles. A more expansive set of style guidelines can be found on Wikipedia at Manual of Style. Creating an Article For the purpose of this tutorial, any page on the wiki is considered an article. To create an article type the name into the creation box here or on the Mafia Wiki main page. width=24 break=no buttonlabel=Create new article *You can also type it into the URL bar such as "mafiagame.wikia.com/wiki/'New Article Name Here'" *Regardless of the method you use, remember to leave a single space between each word of the article name. Naming the Article *All words of the name should be capitalized with the exception of minor words, which include a, an, and, for, if, in, of, on, or, the, to. *Do not create an article if you're unsure what its full name should be. **Character articles should be their name as it is most commonly used in the game. If they're called Bill Johnson, that's what their name should be, not William Johnson, even if William is mentioned as their proper name elsewhere in the game. If they also go by a nickname, that should be listed in the article's lead section itself, such as Bill "Dead Eye" Johnson is the underboss of the... ***Unnamed characters do not require their own article, you shouldn't create articles with titles such as "Bartender", "Bill Johnson's Limo Driver" or "Unnamed Assassin". If they weren't important enough to be given a name they're not important enough for an article. ***Similarly, not all named characters require their own article either. If all you have is one or two sentences worth of information to write about them, chances are they're to insignificant to have their own article. Find an appropriate article to add their name and information to and leave it at that. **Businesses should be the full business name as it appears on the signage or in the game menu. Do not add words like restaurant, bar, club, gun store, etc. to the name unless it's listed that way in game. For example, "Red Lobster" would be just that, not "The Red Lobster", "Red Lobster Seafood", or "Red Lobster Restaurant". **Weapons should be what's listed in the game menu. If it's listed simply as a "Shotgun" then that is the proper name: no assumptions on brand, make or model should be included. **Vehicles should be named as their make followed by their model, such as Shubert Frigate or Smith Thunderbolt. **If there is a conflict with listed names or it's unclear, leave a message with an admin or on the forums and a decision will be made after a community discussion. **In the event of an item that appears in two games, such as if Mafia III uses the same weapon or vehicle names as Mafia II, then the original article should be renamed and a disambiguation page should be created. Our article on Disambiguation will explain the process in detail. ***Insignificant items such as food and beverages may be included in the same article from a previous game as long as they're placed under their own sections in the article. Real World Places or Events *Linking to a Wikipedia article on real world information, like the Vietnam War, is preferable to creating one here; simply link to it in the article using the format Wikipedia:Vietnam War. *Articles on real world information may be created only if they play a major role in the game's plot and should be written as they pertain to the game itself. Remember, this is a gaming wiki, not Wikipedia, so only give a brief synopsis of real world places or events in the lead section. After that you may add a statement such as "This article pertains to New Orleans as it appears in Mafia III, for more information about the real life city you may visit its Wikipedia article." Writing an Article Once your article has been named and created, you need to begin adding content. While some page formats may differ slightly, the information below is listed in order of how they should be placed in most articles. Adding an Infobox *The first item to be added should be the appropriate infobox. We have infobox templates for the most common types of articles here. If one isn't available for the type of article you're creating, don't try to make a different one work, ask an admin and one will be created for that purpose. Quotes *After the infobox is where you place a quote if one is used. To add a quote, use this template . *Only add one quote per character article. In the case of major characters, what quote to use will be based on a community consensus or vote. *Not all characters need a quote. If they only have a handful of lines in the game, chances are they've said nothing worth quoting. Lead Section *Unless an article is very short, it should start with an introductory lead section. Before the first subheading, the lead section should not contain a header. The table of contents, if displayed, appears after the lead section and before the first subheading. *The lead should be capable of standing alone as a concise overview of the article, establishing context, and explaining why the subject is interesting or notable. It should be between one or two paragraphs long and should be written in a clear and accessible style so that the reader is encouraged to read the rest of the article. *The lead typically starts off with the article name in bold, as in "Bill Johnson is an associate in the..." or "The Smith Thunderbolt is a vehicle in Mafia II..." The Article Body *All articles should be written in American English, exceptions being quotes which misspell words, foreign language used in the game or proper nouns such as titles or names. There are translations of this wiki in several languages, these can be found at the bottom of the main page. *Communicating an idea on the page is more difficult than speaking with someone face to face. When speaking to someone their body language will reveal if they're understanding you or not. Unfortunately, you don't have that when writing. This is why proper grammar is so important; writing an article using our daily speech habits will usually end in failure. *Articles should be written as if they were about historical events, real people, or objects that actually exist. We do offer suggestions and walkthroughs for missions; however, this process should not blatantly interfere with the historical tone of an article. *An article must flow smoothly from one sentence to the next and make a logical transition between topics. If you're writing about a person, start with their earliest history and work your way forward chronologically. *Articles should be written in third person perspective and never in first or second person (the exceptions being in walkthroughs, where the latter is permitted). *Titles such as don or capo start with a capital letter when used as a title (followed by a name): "Don Morello", not "don Morello". When used generically, they should be in lower case: "Sergio is a great underboss." The correct formal name of an office is treated as a proper noun. Hence: "Frank Colletti is the Consigliere of the Salieri crime family" **Avoid being overly descriptive when using ranks and titles. For example, a sentence like "To start the mission, drive to Vinci Caporegime Derek Pappalardo's office..." makes for very awkward reading. There's no need to list a persons rank and affiliation in most cases, their main article is where specific details like that belong. *Character articles, especially those of the protagonist and major characters, should not recap everything they do in the entire game. Individual mission articles are where those events should be spelled out in detail, a brief mention of just the significant events within the game is all that's necessary. Appearances section *After the main body, articles such as location and businesses should have an appearances section. This is where you add references to missions that take place or involve that location. Keep in mind that you shouldn't mention minor events like simply driving through a neighborhood or mere mentions of a location in missions. Keep the mentions brief, the mission page itself is where you should go into details, it suffices to simply mention the appearance, such as "The mission Balls and Beans takes place at this location". Adding Links *To add a link to an article, use the format Article Name Here. Any page should only be linked once in any given article and should typically be the first time they're mentioned. *As our articles names use capitalization for major words, you may need to make an alternate link when capitalization would be inappropriate. When this is necessary use the format article name here, substituting lower case letters where needed. **This format should also be used to link names when their full name is not appropriate, such as Vito or when making a word plural as in soldatos. *Don't over saturate any sentence or paragraph with links, if a section is showing up as mostly blue on the page, consider removing some of the less important ones. Always avoid placing multiple links in succession. Adding Images *When uploading an image, give it a name that's descriptive of its subject such as "Smith Thunderbolt". If the name is already taken, feel free to add something else to the file name to set it apart, but under no circumstances should you upload images using the default file names from screen grab software such as dates or a random string of numbers; these files will be removed or renamed. *Only upload images with the .png or .jpg format. *Only upload images you created yourself. Images that contain copyright or watermarks will be removed. *Only replace an existing image if there is a valid reason to do so and never replace an image solely to get your own version in the article. To replace an image, don't upload it as a separate file, simply go to the image page and use the "Upload a new version of this file" link at the bottom. *Only upload images you plan to use. Images not linked to an article or profile will be subject to removal after 7 days. Adding Video *pending outcome of community decision. Adding Audio *Audio found within the game files, be it dialogue, music or sound effects, is considered copyrighted material and is therefore not authorized on this wiki. Trivia Entries *The Mafia wiki is not an indiscriminate collection of trivial factoids, pieces of trivia related to the Mafia games are boundless, but not necessarily helpful. Use careful consideration on what you add to these sections. *Trivia entries should be kept to a bare minimum, be no more than one or two lines long, and only include relevant information not appropriate for the article itself. *Items worthy of mentioning should be of general interest to all readers, relate to the game itself and should never contain speculation or opinions. *Trivia entries are one of the more abused sections of an article. Left unchecked, they quickly become disorganised and distract from the article rather than improve it. Don't take it personal if your trivia entry is removed or edited. Adding a Gallery *Most articles benefit from a gallery rather than posting thumbnails throughout the article itself. When creating a gallery, more than two pictures should use the slideshow option and be the last thing in the article. For the sake of uniformity, all slideshows should use a width of 300 and be positioned to the left. Spoilers *This wiki is about the Mafia series of games; by it's very definition this whole wiki is a spoiler. Do not add phrases like "spoiler alert" or keep information out of an article because it may spoil the plot for the reader. Citations *As a general rule, we do not require citations for information written in our articles. That being said, all information should come from the game itself or through official material released by the publisher. Speculation, conjectures, and personal opinions have no place in an article. *Cut content and information from beta and demo versions that didn't make it into the game should be clearly labeled as such and placed in the trivia section or the cut content page. Categories *Only choose from existing categories. If you feel a new category should be created, ask an admin or make a post on the forum stating your reasoning and it will be discussed by the community. Writing a Walkthrough Another kind of article found on the Mafia Wiki is a walkthrough. A walkthrough is an instructional account of how to proceed through a given mission in the game. Because these types of articles can be highly subjective and opinionated in nature, all walkthroughs require approval from site admins before they get published. *They should be written from a second person point of view. If you're unfamiliar with point of view, here are some basic examples. **First person: Once I enter the warehouse, I take out all the goons on the first floor. **Second person: Once you enter the warehouse, take out all the goons on the first floor. **Third person: Once Vito enters the warehouse, he takes out all the goons on the first floor. *Walkthroughs should be written in a clear and concise manner and be free of gaming lingo, slang or netspeak. They should be brief and to the point at all times and serve as an abbreviated guide rather than a step by step tutorial. Example of a bad walkthrough: *As you enter the warehouse, take cover behind the second pillar on the right, pull out your AK-47 and kill the three goons by the first set of crates. Once they're dead, move to the left and take cover by the forklift. Toss a grenade down the hallway on the left to kill the goon walking toward you from there and then switch to your sniper rifle and zoom in on the back right corner and take out the four goons standing back there. Once all the goons on the first floor are dead, make sure to pick up extra ammo and grenades off them, then proceed to the stairway and go to the second floor where a cutscene will play... **What makes this a bad walkthrough is it's overly detailed and opinionated. Things like what weapon to use or the best place to take cover are more a matter of personal play style, so unless a mission requires you to use a specific weapon or shoot from a particular place, leave those decisions up to the player. Restocking your ammo is common in most games so adding details like that only imply that the reader wouldn't think to do it on their own. Example of a good walkthrough: *Enter the warehouse and make your way through the first floor, taking cover and killing the goons as you go, then take the stairs to the second floor where a cutscene will play... **This gives you all the information in a simple and concise manner without a lot of unnecessary details. This allows the reader to get the basics of what needs to be done and get back to their game quickly. Editing an Article Following the above guidelines will not ensure a perfect article the first time, but it will give the article a strong skeleton. It's ultimately your job as an editor to put meat on it. Every article can be improved (even this one). When editing an article it's important to know your subject and have a plan. *Before you add something to an article, make sure that information isn't already on the page somewhere else or there isn't another article where it's better suited. You should never edit an article that you haven't completely read. *Insure your edits don't interrupt the flow of the article. Jumping from one idea to the next will only confuse the reader so always proofread the entire section you're editing before you hit submit to make sure all the ideas still flow together. *When you edit an article, even if it's just a small edit or to undo a previous one, place a brief statement in the "Edit summary" box explaining your changes. This can help other users understand why you made the changes and prevent confusion. *We all have our own style; if every author wrote in exactly the same way it would be boring. Keep that in mind before you make an edit. Rephrasing a sentence or paragraph simply because you think it sounds better written your way is greatly discouraged. Conclusion We've tried to give you all the basics here, but there's always more information than can be covered in a single article. Wikia Help pages contain a wealth of information on just about every conceivable topic, including the more technical aspects of editing. That being said, sometimes the best method of learning is to just look around at other pages and see how it's been done before. Of course, if you're stuck and simply can't figure something out, feel free to ask one of our staff. We have plenty of experienced people so we should be able to answer just about any question you have. See Also *Guidelines and Policies *Media Policies *Disambiguation *Using Templates